This blog will list news about all aspects of scorpion biology and important taxonomical updates from The scorpion Files. The Scorpion Files is a leading information source about scorpions, and has among others an updated list of all extant families, genera and species.(C) Jan Ove Rein and The Scorpion Files.

31 December, 2012

Professor Wilson Lourenco and co-workers are still unraveling the mysteries of the African "Buthus occitanus species complex". This time a new species of Buthus Leach, 1815 (Buthidae) is described from Cameroon.

Buthus prudenti Lourenco & Leguin, 2012

Abstract:A new species belonging to the genus Buthus Leach (Scorpiones: Buthidae) is described from northern Cameroon in Central Western Africa. The new species can be included in the “Buthus occitanus” complex of species, and probably can be associated with the “Buthus occitanus” from the former French West Africa (AOF) previously reported by Vachon from this large region. This is the first record of a Buthus species from Cameroon, and with the description of Buthus prudenti sp. n., the status of one more population of Buthus spp. from the sub-Saharan region of Africa is clarified.

Reference:
Lourenco WR, Leguin E-A. A New Species of the Genus Buthus (Scorpiones: Buthidae) from Northern Cameroon. Euscorpius. 2012 (152):1-9.[Free full text]